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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of November 12th and November 19th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our 24-hour Holiday Cheer contests, which are taking place on select days this month and next. Enter for your chance to win books that are perfect for holiday giving and that you may want to include on your "to me/from me" list.
Also, we are celebrating Kidsreads.com's 20th anniversary with our biggest contest ever, which includes some of our favorite series from the last two decades. There will be 20 winners who will each receive the first three books of one of the series featured on this page. Enter here between now and Thursday, December 6th at noon ET for your chance to win one of our amazing prize packages!
Finally, we are spotlighting the recent paperback release of THE ROOM ON RUE AMÉLIE by Kristin Harmel, which is the November pick for Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites program and is this month's Target Book Club pick.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Now Available: THE ROOM ON RUE AMÉLIE
by Kristin Harmel
THE ROOM ON RUE AMÉLIE by Kristin Harmel (Historical Fiction)
THE ROOM ON RUE AMÉLIE is the November Book Club Favorites Pick! Kristin Harmel's latest work of fiction is a moving and entrancing novel set in Paris during World War II about an American woman, a dashing pilot and a young Jewish girl whose fates unexpectedly entwine. Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE and Martha Hall Kelly’s LILAC GIRLS, this is “an emotional, heart-breaking, inspiring tribute to the strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love” (Mariah Stewart, New York Times bestselling author).
Click here to read more about the book.
This Week's Bonus News: Bookreporter.com's
Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature
At Bookreporter.com, we kick off the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. As our gift to you, on select days in November and December, we are spotlighting a book and giving five lucky readers the chance to win it. You have to visit the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter the 24-hour contest. As always, we are sending our special Holiday Cheer newsletter on the days when there are contests. Click here to sign up for these email alerts.
This year's featured titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details
and learn more about our featured titles.
On Sale the Week of November 12th in Hardcover
November 13th
AN ALMOST PERFECT CHRISTMAS by Nina Stibbe (Fiction/Humor)
"My mother is not a foodie. But for as long as I can remember, once a year, she becomes possessed of a profound and desperate need to serve up a perfect roast turkey. Faced with a walk into the village, though, she might think 'oh, f*** it' and decide to get a frozen one from Bejams on the 23rd and leave it to defrost in the downstairs toilet for not quite 48 hours." From perennially dry turkeys to Christmas pudding fires, from the round robin code of conduct to the risks and rewards of re-gifting, AN ALMOST PERFECT CHRISTMAS is an ode to the joy and insanity of the most wonderful time of the year.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316415811
BECOMING by Michelle Obama (Memoir)
As First Lady of the United States of America --- the first African American to serve in that role --- Michelle Obama established herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. In her memoir, Michelle invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her --- from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.
Crown | 9781524763138
THE BOYS IN THE CAVE: Deep Inside the Impossible Rescue in Thailand by Matt Gutman (Current Events)
After a practice in June 2018, a Thai soccer coach took a dozen of his young players to explore a famous but flood-prone cave. It was one of the boys’ birthday, but neither he nor the dozen resurfaced. Worried parents and rescuers flocked to the mouth of a cave that seemed to have swallowed the boys without a trace. When water unexpectedly inundated the cave, blocking their escape, they retreated deeper inside, taking shelter in a side cavern. ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman recounts this amazing story in depth and from every angle, exploring their time in the cave, the failed plans and human mistakes that nearly doomed them, and the daring mission that ultimately saved them.
William Morrow | 9780062909916
THE END OF THE END OF THE EARTH: Essays by Jonathan Franzen (Essays)
In THE END OF THE END OF THE EARTH, which gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes --- both human and literary --- that have long preoccupied him. Whether exploring his complex relationship with his uncle, recounting his young adulthood in New York, or offering an illuminating look at the global seabird crisis, these pieces contain all the wit and disabused realism that we’ve come to expect from Franzen. Taken together, these essays trace the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day, made more pressing by the current political milieu.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374147938
FOX 8: A Story by George Saunders (Fiction)
Fox 8 has always been known as the daydreamer in his pack, the one his fellow foxes regard with a knowing snort and a roll of the eyes. That is, until he develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak “Yuman” by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children’s bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people --- even after “danjer” arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack.
Random House | 9781984818027
HEIRS OF THE FOUNDERS: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H. W. Brands (History)
In the early days of the 19th century, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery. Together this second generation of American founders took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency, and tasked themselves with finishing the work the Founders had left undone.
Doubleday | 9780385542531
INSURRECTO by Gina Apostol (Fiction)
Two women, a Filipino translator and an American filmmaker, go on a road trip in Duterte’s Philippines, collaborating and clashing in the writing of a film script about a massacre during the Philippine-American War. Chiara is working on a film about an incident in Balangiga, Samar, in 1901, when Filipino revolutionaries attacked an American garrison, and in retaliation American soldiers created “a howling wilderness” of the surrounding countryside. Magsalin reads Chiara’s film script and writes her own version. INSURRECTO contains within its dramatic action two rival scripts from the filmmaker and the translator --- one about a white photographer, the other about a Filipino schoolteacher.
Soho Press | 9781616959449
JOHN MARSHALL: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court by Richard Brookhiser (Biography)
In 1801, a genial and brilliant Revolutionary War veteran and politician became the fourth chief justice of the United States. He would hold the post for 34 years (still a record), expounding the Constitution he loved. Before he joined the Supreme Court, it was the weakling of the federal government, lacking in dignity and clout. After he died, it could never be ignored again. Through three decades of dramatic cases involving businessmen, scoundrels, Native Americans and slaves, Marshall defended the federal government against unruly states, established the Supreme Court's right to rebuke Congress or the president, and unleashed the power of American commerce.
Basic Books | 9780465096220
A LADDER TO THE SKY by John Boyne (Fiction)
Maurice Swift is handsome, charming and hungry for fame. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, he has a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. Maurice quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful --- but desperately lonely --- older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.
Hogarth | 9781984823014
LATE-LIFE LOVE: A Memoir by Susan Gubar (Memoir)
On Susan Gubar’s 70th birthday, she receives a beautiful ring from her husband. As she contemplates their sustaining relationship, she begins to consider how older lovers differ from their youthful counterparts --- and from ageist stereotypes. While her husband confronts age-related disabilities that effectively ground them, Susan dawdles over the logistics of moving from their cherished country house to a more manageable place in town and starts seeking out literature on the changing seasons of desire. Throughout the complications of devoted caregiving, her own ongoing cancer treatments, apartment hunting, the dismantling of a household, and perplexity over the breakdown of a treasured friendship, Susan finds consolation in books and movies.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393609578
LONG ROAD TO MERCY: An Atlee Pine Thriller by David Baldacci (Thriller)
When one of the Grand Canyon's mules is found stabbed to death at the bottom of the canyon --- and its rider missing --- FBI agent Atlee Pine is called in to investigate. It soon seems clear that the lost tourist had something more clandestine than sightseeing in mind. But just as Pine begins to put together clues pointing to a terrifying plot, she's abruptly called off the case. If she disobeys direct orders by continuing to search for the missing man, it will mean the end of her career. But unless Pine keeps working the case and discovers the truth, it could spell the very end of democracy in America as we know it.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538761571
LOOK ALIVE TWENTY-FIVE: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
There's nothing like a good deli, and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. It’s world-famous for its pastrami, cole slaw and disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, and the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399179228
MISS BINGLEY REQUESTS by Judy McCrosky (Historical Fiction)
Ever since she met him, Miss Caroline Bingley has intended to wed Mr. Darcy. Her brother, Charles, takes a country estate, Netherfield Park, where he is drawn to Jane Bennet. To Caroline’s initial amusement, Mr. Darcy takes note of Elizabeth Bennet, but humor turns to concern when his interest increases. At the same time, Caroline meets Mr. Tryphon, a young man new to London and introduced to society by Caroline’s friend, Lady Eleanor Amesbury. Try as she may, Caroline finds it well-nigh impossible to maintain her decorum in his company. Despite her growing feelings for Mr. Tryphon’s dark eyes, and the touch of his firm forearm beneath her gloved fingers, Caroline knows that her future life is entwined with that of Mr. Darcy.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683318378
NIGHT OF MIRACLES by Elizabeth Berg (Fiction)
Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes. Her classes have become so popular that she’s hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn’t know how to bake, but she needs to keep her mind off a big decision she sorely regrets. When a new family moves in next door and tragedy strikes, Lucille begins to look out for Lincoln, their son. Lincoln’s parents aren’t the only ones in town facing hard choices and uncertain futures. In these difficult times, the residents of Mason come together and find the true power of community --- just when they need it the most.
Random House | 9780525509509
NOBODY'S SWEETHEART NOW: The First Lady Adelaide Mystery by Maggie Robinson (Historical Mystery)
Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard. Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie's, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up! Not in the flesh, but in -- actually, as a --- spirit. Before Addie can convince herself she's not completely lost her mind, a murder disrupts her careful seating arrangement. Which of her 12 houseguests is a killer?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464211119
QUARTERBACK: Inside the Most Important Position in the National Football League by John Feinstein (Sports)
In the National Football League, one player becomes the face of a franchise, one player receives all the accolades and all the blame, and one player's hand will guide the rise or fall of an entire team's season --- and the dreams of millions of fans. There are 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL on any given Sunday, and their lives are built around pressure, stardom and incredible talent. Legendary bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein shows readers what it's really like to play the glory position and to live that life --- mapping out a journey that runs from college stardom to the NFL draft to taking command of the huddle and marching a team down the field with a nation of fans cheering.
Doubleday | 9780385543033
THANKS A THOUSAND: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs (Memoir/Humor)
Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee --- and every other item in our lives --- would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers and goatherds. By thanking these people face to face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs --- his disposition is more Larry David than Tom Hanks --- but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion: It improves compassion, heals your body and helps battle depression.
Simon & Schuster/TED | 9781501119927
THOSE WHO GO BY NIGHT by Andrew Gaddes (Historical Mystery)
England, 1324: a land rife with superstition and gripped by fear of the Church’s holy wrath. When a beggar is murdered in the quiet village of Bottesford, his body draped across the altar of St. Mary’s church in a perverse pose of pagan sacrifice, the Pope’s Inquisitor General places the small hamlet in his sights. Anxious to stave off the Inquisition, the Bishop of Lincoln dispatches Thomas Lester, son of a disgraced Templar Knight, to investigate --- but the Archbishop’s fanatical emissary has already arrived to conduct his own inquiry. Thomas’ investigation uncovers a viper’s nest of perfidious players. As this sordid drama unfolds, Thomas finds himself falling in love with a woman whose beauty is matched only by her defiance of the Church’s fearsome power.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683318408
THE WESTERN WIND by Samantha Harvey (Historical Mystery)
It’s 1491. In the small village of Oakham, its wealthiest and most industrious resident, Tom Newman, is swept away by the river during the early hours of Shrove Saturday. Was it murder, suicide or an accident? Narrated from the perspective of local priest John Reve --- patient shepherd to his wayward flock --- a shadowy portrait of the community comes to light through its residents’ tortured revelations. As some of their darkest secrets are revealed, the intrigue of the unexplained death ripples through the congregation. But will Reve, a man with secrets of his own, discover what happened to Newman? And what will happen if he can’t?
Grove Press | 9780802128287
WITNESS: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger (Memoir)
Elie Wiesel --- a Nobel laureate, activist, adviser to world leaders, and the author of more than 40 books --- taught at Boston University for nearly four decades. With this book, Ariel Burger --- devoted protégé, apprentice and friend --- takes us into the sacred space of Wiesel’s classroom. There, Wiesel challenged his students to explore moral complexity and to resist the dangerous lure of absolutes. In bringing together never-before-recounted moments between Wiesel and his students, WITNESS serves as a moral education in and of itself --- a primer on educating against indifference, on the urgency of memory and individual responsibility, and on the role of literature, music and art in making the world a more compassionate place.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328802699
On Sale the Week of November 12th in Paperback
November 13th
ALTERNATE SIDE by Anna Quindlen (Fiction)
Some days, Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life --- except when there’s a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora’s dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. The owners watch one another’s children grow up. They use the same handyman. They trade gossip and gripes, and they maneuver for the ultimate status symbol: a spot in the block’s small parking lot. Then one morning, Nora returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the enviable dead-end block turns into a potent symbol of a divided city.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780525509875
BREAKING FREE: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs by Rachel Jeffs (Memoir)
Born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Rachel Jeffs was raised in a strict patriarchal culture defined by subordinate sister wives and men they must obey. No one in this radical splinter sect of the Mormon Church was more powerful or terrifying than its leader, Warren Jeffs --- Rachel’s father. Living outside mainstream Mormonism and federal law, Jeffs arranged marriages between underage girls and middle-aged and elderly members of his congregation. In BREAKING FREE, Rachel blows the lid off this taciturn community to offer a harrowing look at her life with Jeffs, and the years of physical and emotional abuse she suffered.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062670533
CHICAGO by David Mamet (Historical Thriller)
Mike Hodge --- veteran of the Great War, big shot of the Chicago Tribune, medium fry --- probably shouldn’t have fallen in love with Annie Walsh. Then again, maybe the man who killed Annie Walsh should have known better than to trifle with Mike Hodge. Mixing some of his most brilliant fictional creations with actual figures of the era and exploring questions of honor, deceit, revenge and devotion, CHICAGO --- David Mamet’s first novel in more than two decades --- is a book that combines spectacular elegance of craft with a kinetic wallop as fierce as the February wind gusting off Lake Michigan.
Custom House | 9780062797209
THE CUTTING EDGE: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan's Diamond District, a brutal triple murder shocks the city. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs quickly take the case. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer's target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves. The Promisor vows to take the lives of men and women during their most precious moments --- midway through the purchase of an engagement ring, after a meeting with a wedding planner, trying on the perfect gown for a day that will never come. Soon the Promisor makes a dangerous mistake: leaving behind an innocent witness, Vimal Lahori, a talented young diamond cutter who can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538731840
DEATH IN THE AIR: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City by Kate Winkler Dawson (True Crime/History)
London was still recovering from the devastation of World War II when another disaster hit: for five long days in December 1952, a killer smog held the city firmly in its grip and refused to let go. Day became night, mass transit ground to a halt, criminals roamed the streets, and some 12,000 people died from the poisonous air. But in the chaotic aftermath, another killer was stalking the streets, using the fog as a cloak for his crimes. Journalist Kate Winkler Dawson braids these strands together into a true crime thriller about a man who changed the fate of the death penalty in the UK, and an environmental catastrophe with implications that still echo today.
Hachette Books | 9780316506830
EMPIRE OF SAND by Tasha Suri (Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
The Amrithi are outcasts; nomads descended of desert spirits, they are coveted and persecuted throughout the Empire for the power in their blood. Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother she can barely remember, but whose face and magic she has inherited. When Mehr's power comes to the attention of the Emperor's most feared mystics, she must use every ounce of will, subtlety and power she possesses to resist their cruel agenda. Should she fail, the gods themselves may awaken seeking vengeance.
Orbit | 9780316449717
THE FEUD by Catherine Hiller (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Despite the notion of female solidarity, almost every office has its feud, usually between two women. In THE FEUD, a work friendship goes bad…very bad. Soon Nikki and Roberta engage in a series of betrayals that threatens one with the loss of her boyfriend and reputation, and the other with the loss of her home and her family. Nikki smokes weed, while Roberta drinks wine. They each have their little helpers, but can anything really help them achieve peace? The book is set in the mid-’90s, when the internet was new and cell phones were rare. The two women use these emerging technologies in their increasingly damaging war with each other until they find themselves alone in a stalled elevator.
Heliotrope Books | 9781942762508
FIRE SERMON by Jamie Quatro (Fiction)
Maggie is entirely devoted to her husband Thomas, their two beautiful children, and to God --- until what begins as a platonic intellectual and spiritual exchange between writer Maggie and poet James transforms into an erotically charged bond that challenges Maggie’s sense of loyalty and morality, drawing her deeper into the darkness of desire.
Grove Press | 9780802128980
FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD by Louise Erdrich (Dystopian Thriller)
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Thirty-two-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker is four months pregnant. Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As she goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe.
Harper Perennial | 9780062694065
HIGH CRIMES: A Georgia Davis Novel of Suspense by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Chicago PI Georgia Davis is hired to hunt down those behind the assassination of Resistance leader Dena Baldwin at a demonstration 14 months after the 2016 election. The gunman dies within minutes of the shooting. As Georgia sifts through Dena’s 42,000 Facebook followers, she discovers that unknown enemies hiding behind fake profiles have infiltrated the group. She finds others who will do whatever it takes --- including murder --- to shield right-wing, wealthy elites. Threats and bruises have never frightened Georgia, but she’s side-swiped by the sudden reappearance of her mother, who abandoned her when she was a child. Can she survive a family crisis at the same time she pursues killers whose only goal is to protect themselves?
The Red Herrings | 9781938733956
PRAGUE SPRING by Simon Mawer (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In the summer of 1968, the year of Prague Spring with a Cold War winter, Oxford students James Borthwick and Eleanor Pike set out to hitchhike across Europe. Having reached southern Germany, they decide on a whim to visit Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubcek's "socialism with a human face" is smiling on the world. Meanwhile, in the company of Czech student Lenka Konecková, Sam Wareham --- First Secretary at the British embassy in Prague --- finds a way into the world of Czechoslovak youth; now, nothing seems off-limits behind the Iron Curtain. But the great wheels of politics are grinding in the background. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubcek, and the Red Army is massing on the borders.
Other Press | 9781590519660
SIGNAL LOSS: A Hal Challis Investigation by Garry Disher (Mystery)
A pair of hit men have a very bad day, and the resulting bushfire draws attention to a meth lab and two burned bodies in a Mercedes. As Inspector Hal Challis of the Crime Investigation Unit struggles to link these events to major meth suppliers flooding the Peninsula with drugs, he also finds himself spending valuable time fending off jurisdictional challenges from Melbourne’s Major Drug Investigative Division. Meanwhile, Sgt. Ellen Destry, of CIU’s sex crimes unit, is hunting for a serial rapist who is extremely adept at not leaving clues.
Soho Crime | 9781616959753
THE SIXTH DAY: A Brit in the FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison (Thriller)
When several major political figures die mysteriously, officials blame their deaths on natural causes. However, when a small drone is spotted at the scene of the most recent death, it quickly becomes clear to FBI agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine that there’s more to this mystery than meets the eye. Dr. Isabella Marin is a language expert, and she’s dedicated her entire life to researching an ancient text that has long been considered indecipherable…that is, until now. When Nicholas and Michaela uncover plans for a devastating attack on London, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before it’s too late. Not only are they in danger of losing the manuscript --- an object of extreme value --- they’re also at risk of losing more innocent lives, including their own.
Gallery Books | 9781501196386
THE SMACK by Richard Lange (Thriller)
Rowan Petty is a conman down on his luck. He's flat broke, living out of cheap hotels, and wondering how it all went wrong. His car quits on him in Reno, and he takes a job there on the bottom rung of a lousy phone scam. When he's not swindling lonely widows, he tries to turn nickels into dimes at the poker table. One snowy night, he crosses paths with a sweet-talking hooker who's tired of the streets, and sparks fly. When an old friend of his turns up spreading a rumor about two million dollars in army money smuggled out of Afghanistan and stashed in an apartment in Los Angeles, it seems like a chance at the score of a lifetime. So Petty and the hooker head south, and straight into trouble.
Mulholland Books | 9780316327619
THE WINE LOVER’S DAUGHTER: A Memoir by Anne Fadiman (Memoir)
An appreciation of wine --- along with a plummy upper-crust accent, expensive suits, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Western literature --- was an essential element of Clifton Fadiman’s escape from lower-middle-class Brooklyn to swanky Manhattan. But wine was not just a class-vaulting accessory; it was an object of ardent desire. THE WINE LOVER’S DAUGHTER traces the arc of a man’s infatuation from the glass of cheap Graves he drank in Paris in 1927; through the Château Lafite-Rothschild 1904 he drank to celebrate his 80th birthday, when he and the bottle were exactly the same age; to the wines that sustained him in his last years, when he was blind but still buoyed, as always, by hedonism.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374537944
On Sale the Week of November 19th in Hardcover
November 19th
TARGET: ALEX CROSS by James Patterson (Thriller)
A leader has fallen, and Alex Cross joins the procession of mourners from Capitol Hill to the White House. Then a sniper's bullet strikes a target in the heart of DC. Alex Cross' wife, Bree Stone, newly elevated chief of DC detectives, must solve the case or lose her position. The Secret Service and the FBI deploy as well in the race to find the shooter. Alex is tasked by the new President to lead an investigation unprecedented in scale and scope. But is the sniper's strike only the beginning of a larger attack on the nation?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316273947
November 20th
BEAUCHAMP HALL by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Winona Farmington once dreamed of graduating from college, moving to New York City and pursuing a career in publishing. Then real life got in the way when she left college and returned to her small Michigan hometown to care for her sick mother. Years later, stuck in a dead-end job and an unsatisfying relationship, Winnie has concluded that dreams were meant for others. She consoles herself by binge-watching the British television series “Beauchamp Hall,” enthralled by the sumptuous period drama set on a great Norfolk estate in the 1920s. On the day Winnie is passed over for a long-overdue promotion, she is also betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend. Heartbroken, she makes the first impulsive decision of her conventional life --- which changes everything.
Delacorte Press | 9780399179297
FIRE & BLOOD: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (A Targaryen History) written by George R. R. Martin, illustrated by Doug Wheatley (Fantasy)
Centuries before the events of A GAME OF THRONES, House Targaryen --- the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria --- took up residence on Dragonstone. FIRE & BLOOD begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart. What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel.
Bantam | 9781524796280
HOMEWARD HOUND by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
As winter deepens over the Blue Ridge Mountains, even the threat of snowstorms cannot derail this year’s Christmas run, not as long as Sister Jane has a say in it. With spirits high and traditions strong, a glorious parade of hunters in full holiday regalia gathers on the grounds of Tattenhall Station. But a blinding blizzard brings an early end to the sport. More disturbing: A horse soon returns without its rider. Gregory Luckham, the president of a powerful energy company pushing for a pipeline through central Virginia, is the missing hunter. A search is organized for what is presumed will be a dead, frozen body. What is discovered, however, chills everyone to the bone --- and points toward murder.
Ballantine Books | 9780399178375
LIES COME EASY: The Posadas County Mysteries by Steven F. Havill (Mystery)
One blizzardy New Mexico night, Posadas County Deputy Pasquale picks up a toddler scooting his Scamper along the shoulder of State 56. Yes, it's horrifying --- a child apparently dumped out of a truck by his father. Nearly as horrifying is what unrolls while Christmas approaches after dad Darrell Fisher's arrest: a request arrives from the US Forest Service to locate a missing range tech and his unit last reported headed for nearby Stinkin' Springs, and the brutal murder of Constance Suarez in the border town of Regál, population 37. The Sheriff's Department is stretched to its limits as its dedicated personnel juggle working cases and caring for citizens with their own relationships and family celebrations.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464210310
MASTER OF HIS FATE by Barbara Taylor Bradford (Historical Fiction)
Victorian England is a country of sharp divides between rich and poor, but James Lionel Falconer, who spends his days working at his father’s market stall, is determined to become a merchant prince. Even as a child, he is everything a self-made man should be: handsome, ambitious, charming and brimming with self-confidence. James quickly rises through the ranks, proving himself both hardworking and trustworthy, and catching the eye of Henry Malvern, head of the most prestigious shipping company in London. But when threats against his reputation --- and his life --- begin to emerge, James will have to prove that he truly is the master of his fate.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250187390
MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Korede’s sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.
Doubleday | 9780385544238
NEWCOMER by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
Detective Kyochiro Kaga of the Tokyo Police Department has just been transferred to a new precinct in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Newly arrived, but with a great deal of experience, Kaga is promptly assigned to the team investigating the murder of a woman. But the more he investigates, the greater number of potential suspects emerges. It isn’t long before it seems that nearly all the people living and working in the business district of Nihonbashi have a motive for murder. To prevent the murderer from eluding justice, Kaga must unravel all the secrets surrounding a complicated life. Buried somewhere in the woman’s past, her family history and the last few days of her life is the clue that will lead to the murderer.
Minotaur Books | 9781250067869
TONY'S WIFE by Adriana Trigiani (Historical Fiction)
Chi Chi Donatelli and Saverio Armandonada meet one summer on the Jersey shore before World War II. Chi Chi is a talented and ambitious singer-songwriter looking for her big break, while Saverio is fronting a touring band and has the good looks and smooth vocals that make success seem assured. It isn’t long before Saverio becomes Tony Arma, and he and Chi Chi form a duo. Soon they’re married, and all goes well until it becomes clear that they must make a choice: Which of them will put ambition aside to build a family and which will pursue a career? What compromises will they make to achieve their dreams? And how will they cope with the impact these compromises have on their marriage, family and themselves?
Harper | 9780062319258
On Sale the Week of November 19th in Paperback
November 20th
THE BROKEN GIRLS by Simone St. James (Supernatural Thriller)
Vermont, 1950. There are rumors that Idlewild Hall, a boarding school, is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, but then one of them mysteriously disappears. Vermont, 2014. Journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case. When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past.
Berkley | 9780451489388
THE GATE KEEPER: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
A restless Ian Rutledge drives aimlessly, haunted by the past, and narrowly misses a motorcar stopped in the middle of a desolate road. Standing beside the vehicle is a woman with blood on her hands and a dead man at her feet. She swears she didn’t kill Stephen Wentworth. A stranger stepped out in front of their motorcar and fired a single shot before vanishing into the night. Although he is a witness after the fact, Rutledge persuades the Yard to give him the inquiry, since he’s on the scene. But is he seeking justice --- or fleeing painful memories in London? When a second suspicious death occurs, the evidence suggests that a dangerous predator is on the loose, and that death is closer than Rutledge knows.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062678720
INSIDIOUS INTENT by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
In the north of England, single women are beginning to disappear from weddings. A pattern soon becomes clear: Someone is crashing the festivities and luring the women away --- only to leave the victims’ bodies in their own burned-out cars in remote locations. Psychologist Tony Hill and former police detective Carol Jordan are called upon to investigate, but this may be the toughest case they’ve ever had to face. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Paula McIntyre and her partner Elinor must deal with a cruel cyber-blackmailer targeting their teenage ward, Torin.
Grove Press | 9780802128652
A MAP OF THE DARK by Karen Ellis (Thriller)
A teenage girl has disappeared from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads obscures the fact that she did not go willingly. As the hours tick by, the hunt for the girl deepens into a search for a man --- who may have been killing for years. FBI Agent Elsa Myers' carefully compartmentalized world begins to collapse around her. Everything she has buried --- her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother's death --- threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences. Can our most painful childhood secrets be forgotten? Or will they always find their way back into our adult lives?
Mulholland Books | 9780316505680
PROMISE ME, DAD: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden (Memoir)
In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years. It was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor 15 months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. PROMISE ME, DAD chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s life and career.
Flatiron Books | 9781250171696
STALIN: WAITING FOR HITLER, 1929-1941 by Stephen Kotkin (Biography)
In 1929, Joseph Stalin, having already achieved dictatorial power over the vast Soviet Empire, formally ordered the systematic conversion of the world’s largest peasant economy into “socialist modernity,” otherwise known as collectivization, regardless of the cost. What it cost, and what Stalin ruthlessly enacted, transformed the country and its ruler in profound and enduring ways. Building and running a dictatorship, with life and death power over hundreds of millions, made Stalin into the uncanny figure he became. Stephen Kotkin’s STALIN: WAITING FOR HITLER, 1929–1941 is the story of how a political system forged an unparalleled personality and vice versa.
Penguin Books | 9780143132158
THE TANGLED LANDS by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell (Dystopian Fantasy)
Khaim, The Blue City, is the last remaining city in a crumbled empire that overly relied upon magic until it became toxic. It is run by a tyrant known as The Jolly Mayor and his devious right hand, the last archmage in the world. Together they try to collect all the magic for themselves so they can control the citizens of the city. But when their decadence reaches new heights and begins to destroy the environment, the people stage an uprising to stop them. In four interrelated parts, THE TANGLED LANDS is an evocative and epic story of resistance and heroic sacrifice in the twisted remains surrounding the last great city of Khaim.
Saga Press | 9781481497305
THE WAY IT WAS: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi (Memoir)
By the time Eliot Weisman met Frank Sinatra in 1976, he was already the Voice, a man who held sway over popular music and pop culture for 40 years. Passionate and generous on his best days, sullen and unpredictable on his worst, Sinatra invited Weisman into his inner circle, an honor that the budding celebrity manager never took for granted. With Weisman's help, Sinatra orchestrated in his final decades some of the most memorable moments of his career. Over their years together, Weisman became a confidant to the man who trusted few, and he came to know Sinatra's world intimately. Ultimately Weisman, who had become the executor of Sinatra's estate, was left alone to navigate the infighting and hatred between those born to the name and the wife who acquired it.
Hachette Books | 9780316470094
THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay by Sujata Massey (Historical Mystery)
Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father’s law firm. Mistry Law has been appointed to execute the will of Mr. Omar Farid, a wealthy Muslim mill owner who has left three widows behind. But as Perveen examines the paperwork, she notices something strange: all three of the wives have signed over their full inheritance to a charity. The Farid widows live in full purdah --- in strict seclusion, never leaving the women’s quarters or speaking to any men. Are they being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen tries to investigate and realizes her instincts were correct when tensions escalate to murder.
Soho Crime | 9781616959760
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